I currently own a vehicle outright and could sell it to pay off the full balance of my remaining student loans. My job is remote, however there is some travel required, which I am able to get reimbursed at $0.58 per mile. For any other car journeys, we’d use my wife’s vehicle, a 2020 Hyundai Santa Fe. I’m interested in leasing a Jeep Wrangler Rubicon 4xe (Lease Calculator). The lease payment is not much more than my student loan payment.
Based on my usage in the last 6 months (time I’ve had my current job) 50% of the 3000 miles I’ve driven were reimbursed by my employer. Does leasing make sense financially? Financial considerations aside, a Wrangler is one of my dream vehicles. Let me know if anything needs more clarification. Thanks!
Depends what your goals are. If it’s to minimize costs but you’re driving long enough distances that you’re mostly burning fuel in the 4xe, that may be counterintuitive.
Probably can’t go wrong, RVs are good enough so even if you had to dump it for whatever reason you should at least still break even. Student loan payoff should take top priority though. You can always dump the Wrangler if needed, student loans, for now, don’t go away until you die.
What does your student loan have to do with it? Are you asking whether you should lease a Wrangler or pay off your student loan? If so, I guess that depends on what the interest on your student loan is and if you can deduct some of that expense on your taxes.
I can pay off the full balance of my student loans by selling a car I fully own. I still do need a car however and could then lease a wrangler 4xe for a little bit more than my student loan payment, which I would no longer have since the loan would be fully paid off.
What’s the interest rate on your student loan? Are you able to deduct any of the student loan interest expenses on your taxes? If your student loan net interest expenses are more than the car loan/lease interest cost then definitely pay off the student loan first.
Usage check: will this be a play toy or plan to crawl rocks? Any camping or overlanding? If you’re just touring and trailing, a Rubi is overkill imho, and the Sahara will be a better commuter.
If you sell your current car with equity and are able to pay off the student loan, go for it! But you will have to order the Wrangler 4xe which will take 3-4 months for delivery. Based on January #s the Wrangler 4xe Rubicon is the best deal but rv/mf/incentives will change based on pick-up month. If you are comfortable with payments of $350-$400/month for the next 3 years go for it! As people have mentioned, you can always off load the Wrangler to break even or obtain some equity down the line.
Thanks! I’m in no rush to sell the car and my student loans are currently paused until May 1, 2022 so I can wait the 8-16 weeks it’d take for the order to arrive. And definitely comfortable paying that over the next three years, it’s what I would’ve had to pay on my student loans anyways!
